When families can afford the basics, they can reinvest in their communities, and higher wages means a broader consumer base for businesses.

Annual earnings in the fast-food industry are well below the income needed for self-sufficiency, and fast-food industry jobs are also much less likely than other jobs to provide health benefits.

People decide what markets should do - they are not a force of nature.

Income inequality and wage stagnation finally took their place among the principal moral issues of our time.

The minimum wage isn't earned only by people working at fast food restaurants and in service industry work - the average income for positions like nursing assistants, preschool teachers and paramedics are all under $15.

The fast-food industry is notorious for employing millions of Americans at poverty wages.

The vast majority (over 80 percent) of fast-food and similar low wage service jobs (<$9.24/hr) are held by adults. A quarter are adults over 40. Another quarter are moms raising kids.